The Many Philosophical Musings of Gummy the Alligator

by Ironskull

Thunderstorm Stunts S1E8

This night is a stormy night. It had been scheduled for night time so as to inconvenience the populace as little as possible. On one side of Ponyville, three friends were trying to have a sleepover, although they were having various troubles. On another side, unseen by anyone , a young alligator was getting into trouble of his own.

Okay, maybe he wasn't causing that much trouble. All he has done so far is sneak out of Sugar Cube Corner while Pinkie Pie was asleep. But, in his defense, he has never before experienced such a storm, and the blood of his semi-aquatic ancestors called to him, urging him to come out and relax in the dampness and the mud. He hasn't even gone very far away from his home; just far enough to find a good damp spot to relax.

Thankfully, alligators have the ability to see in the dark much better than most other creatures. Gummy is a strange gator, but a gator his is just the same. He can easily see in his dimly lit surroundings, and the thunder and lightning did not cause him concern.

The noise did however impair his ability to hear any other sounds. He suddenly looked up, thinking perhaps he had heard something rather strange just a moment ago-

*WHUMP*

The famously inexpressive Gummy actually jumped backwards in terror.

A snake had fallen out of the sky and landed in front of his snout.

Yipe! Where - where did you come from? he shakily communicated.

There was more sounds of snakes falling out of the air and onto the grass around him, and the first snake had quickly turned itself upright and was now laughing semi-uncontrollably with a strange, hissing laugh.

Gummy was surrounded.

The other snakes were laughing too now. Gummy was surrounded by snakes that were laughing at him. Laughing at how scared he was, surely.

'Hahahaha!' said the first snake. 'We sure got you! Ya should have seen the look on your face, ehheeheeheee!'

What did you do? asked Gummy, scared and confused. How did you sneak up on me?

'You obviously don't know who we are! Actually, what are you doing out here all on your own, youngster?'

I was trying to enjoy the rain.

'We like the rain too! Never a better time to be pulling stunts than when you're slinging mud all over the place!'

Stunts?

'That's right! This bunch of hooligans is the Hoop Snake Troupe! We're the fastest slithering things in the WORLD, and we are WIIIIILD! YEAAAAAHHHHH! LET'S ROLL!'

And then the snake did something exceptionally odd. It curled up and grabbed its own tail in its mouth, and then stood up itself out straight on its side like a circular hoop. It started spinning its body around at rapid speed, kicking up mud and splattering it all over behind him, before suddenly shooting away like an out-of-control wheel.

The others laughed and followed the first's example.

Or, at least, most of them did. While Gummy was staring off into space and wonder what in the world just happened, one most snake slithered into view.

'Sorry about him,' it said, having the decency to actually look apologetic. 'The others, they're... well, easy excited.'

Gummy gave the snake a baffled look.

'Just between you and me, I think they hit their heads a few too many times when learning to jump.'

Jump? asked Gummy. I didn't know that snakes could jump

The snake laughed. 'Most can't. Not like us, anyway. See? Look at my fellows over there.'

Gummy looked. The ecstatic snakes were rolling rampant through the town, unbeknownst to the sleeping residents. After watching for only a few moments, Gummy saw some of the snakes somehow launch themselves very far into the air before landing on rooftops before seamlessly continuing to roll at outrageous speed, flinging themselves off of the roof and on to who knows where.

How do they do that? asked Gummy in awe.

'If we let go of our tail at just the right moment, all of that spinning power launches us through the air. When you get good at it, you can do stuff like this, but the juveniles... hit their heads a lot while practicing. A lot. Kind of makes them go nuts. I had better catch up with them before they roll out without me. See you.'

The last snake rolled away, leaving Gummy to observe the bizarre spectacle for a minute more before the snakes decided to move on. Soon enough, the commotion was over, leaving only the sounds of the storm.

That was the strangest thing I have ever seen.

...

And yet...

Suddenly, Gummy had an idea. He curled himself up and bit down on his tail. Thankfully, he had no teeth, so doing so wouldn't actually hurt, and yet his jaw was still powerful enough to hold on steadily.

And he found that he could indeed imitate the snakes' unusual locomotion.

Granted, he quickly found that he could not possibly hope to travel at nearly the same speed as the snakes had, and it was a little bit tiring, but...

It was fun. And it was faster than his pathetic waddle.

Of course it was extremely odd, but, well, if he made a fool of himself, its not like he had a reputation to lose.

Author's Note:

In the comics, Gummy is occasionally portrayed rolling around like that.

Comments

[Ironskull]

For those of you who have no idea what a hoop snake is, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoop_snake

[howard035]

Cute chapter. Thanks for providing the link on Hoop Snakes, they definitely sound like an MLP creature.